Darling in the FranXX: Impotence
by therDynamics
Summary: Darling in the FranXX can be accurately summarized as "Hiro and Zero Two are great, Ichigo sucks. Who are all these other characters, again?" An attempt to give Darling in the FranXX additional characterization it rightfully deserves.


They say that mankind is the most accomplished of all species. After we discovered agriculture, it was only a simple matter of time before we learned how the shackle and yoke the Earth for our infinite and unquenchable search for pleasure. Plants, animals, forces of nature, everything could be harnessed for sources of energy. Everything that was truly useless was thrown out and stepped on repeatedly by the feet of progress until they died. (i.e. extinct) Nobody told us to stop, either. So in the name of civil society, the march for unfathomable happiness continued.

But in our infinite wisdom and intellect, everyone was astonished to see giant blue mythological creatures crawl out of the mantle when we started to steal something called "magma energy." Most people would claim they could see the obvious connection and say, "Hey, maybe science _has _gone too far. Maybe pull on the brakes a little?" Problem is, this magma stuff could make you immortal. People preferred to live forever with their heads in the sand rather than think rationally. So what did we do? We denied any correlation between the blue monsters and magma energy. We feasted on the nectar of the earth to live forever. We built giant robots and began our favorite pastime to end all pastimes: war.

Of course, we eventually won by the skin of our teeth. And society marched on over the dead klaxosaurs as well as the rest of the dead planet.

_The Klaxosaur Wars, intro_

—

Hiro was a failure. His friends would probably tell him ad infinitum that was untrue. Hell, even his number displayed his inherent success as well. 016. Low double digits were supposed to be good, no? Yet he couldn't even bind to anyone. He couldn't pilot.

"Hiro."

Shaken out of reverie, he turned to Naomi, who was also standing at the dock, waiting for the transport that would take them both back to the Garden. Hiro did not respond, and waited for her to continue.

"... Hiro, you are probably the person I hate the most right now." She paused, as if to collect her thoughts. "Aside from me, of course."

Hiro didn't deign to respond, so Naomi kept talking.

"You were given a second chance," she quietly said. "You know why? Because out of the two of us, you're objectively better than me. Seven hundred three versus sixteen? Who's fault is it that we couldn't connect? It had to be me. But now you throw away that second chance? I can't believe you."

"I'm still useless here," Hiro countered. "I'd rather go away instead of facing Ichigo's pity and Zorome's scorn every day."

"Get your head out of your ass," Naomi spat. "You were probably one of the most favorite children in the Garden. You gave everybody their own personal name, including mine. I don't want to see your ugly mug where I'm going just because of your inability to swallow your pride in front of other children."

"_But you're wrong_," Hiro thought. "_I can't pilot. I've been tested multiple times already. If anything, you should get the second chance._" But otherwise Hiro said nothing.

The transport arrived at this time, with the door agape, but Naomi wasn't finished. "Go back to where you have supporters and people who care about you, Hiro. Let the useless trash throw itself away. If anything, I —"

"Your transport is waiting, Code 703. Please do not cause any additional delays," the adult in charge of the port said.

Naomi shut up, and went inside. But at the last second, she threw her suitcase out, right into Hiro's arms, who had been trying to go inside as well.

"Give my regards to your next partner, Hiro. May she be more deserving of your partnership than me. You didn't deserve someone like me." The doors closed on Naomi's half-lidded and tearless face, which was devoid of all emotion. The most haunting part was how _empty _Naomi sounded when she said things she clearly believed to be true.

Hiro reached out, in some absurd attempt to open the powered door, but the adult pulled him back, shouting for him to simply take the next transport. Even still, Hiro only pulled back his outreached hand when the transport was well underway to its next destination, amidst the fog.

Then the ground began to shake, frightening all the adults in the plantation, all of the parasites taking their first steps in their FranXX units, and one Hiro waiting for another transport. A certain horned parasite sniffed the air while next to her own unit, and bore a predatory, fanged grin.

"I smell a Klaxosaur," she muttered, and shuddered in anticipation.

—

The parasites of Plantation 13, once so eager to officially test out their FranXX units, soon realized that the earthquake had effectively imprisoned them into the units that they were supposed to protect and fight with. The panicked voices of Hachi and Nana did nothing to interrupt the cool terror of death which danced along the spines of every parasite of Plantation 13.

Another thud shook the entire floor. The more sensitive parasites were being consoled by their slightly more resilient partners. There was nothing to do but wait out the storm and pray that they would survive and be passed by the klaxosaur that was more a force of nature than a surmountable obstacle.

But in the end, their prayers went unanswered. With a giant tremor and groaning of steel, the vulnerable Plantation ceded to a very big and very _angry_ klaxosaur, thirsty for both magma energy and blood. Code 015 and 056, in particular, were able to get front-view seats to the rage of an unbridled beast. It roared, calling for the end of all pathetic humans. But before the parasites could lament their untimely death, late divine intervention came in the form of another FranXX unit that was not of their own: a unit with different limits paired with a lance that could supposedly strike down the heavens. The infamous Strelizia was here to play. The parasites of Plantation 13 were the captive audience to the two giants' brawl.

Hiro could only watch in awe of the battle of massive proportions occuring before his very eyes. Strelizia was quick and agile, able to deal devastating damage with her lance while playing around with her opponent's limited mobility and range. The Klaxosaur roared from the pain and tried to swat away this annoying, pesky fly but only received another prick to the face for its troubles. But the shock and awe of the battle started to turn into confusion as the battle wore on for at least half an hour. Strelizia was nary without a scratch, but the Klaxosaur was at wit's end, unable to either defend or attack with any effectiveness, as her attacks could never strike true against her enemy, and her lance was able to strike past the hardened scales without any difficulty. Blue blood shimmered on nearly every inch of scale. Even its bright laser was effortlessly batted aside with one swipe of the lance. This fight was horrendously one-sided. So why didn't Strelizia finish it off already?

And then with a gleam of light, Strelizia transformed. The humanoid mech transformed into a four legged canine. Sensing an opportunity, the Klaxosaur attacked. But without its lance, Strelizia could only block the attack, and was thrown back — all the way to the plantation, landing only a few meters from where Hiro was standing, who was too stupefied to even run from the possibility of death by several tons of steel.

But the battered mech no longer moved to battle its opponent no more. Had — had the legendary Strelitzia really lost?

The victorious Klaxosaur roared, and stomped off to terrorize something else, like the other immobile FranXX that still remained trapped.

Hiro might have felt terror and fear for his squadron and the plantation if he was himself two years ago. But right now he felt indifference. What did it matter if all of Plantation 13 was going to die? There was nothing that he could do to save his friends. He couldn't pilot.

From the wreckage of Strelitzia, a hydraulic hiss arose from the steel. Hiro could only watch, dumbfounded, as he watched the body of a man — no, a boy — roll down and sprawl in an undignified heap. Hiro bent down to check if he was okay. At best, he was unconscious. At worst, dead.

Hiro then saw the shadows shift on the ground and squinted his eyes at the sun to see the other figure that rose from Strelitzia. What he saw next struck him with wonder.

A bloodstained girl with a red pistil suit and red horns staring back into his eyes. Her piercing glance seemed to pass right through his eyes and devour everything that made up himself. Her aura of command seemed capable of drawing him close and then absorb everything he was.

It was awe at first sight.

"— do."

Hiro shook himself out of his reverie. "I'm sorry?"

With the smallest of predatory grins, she repeated, "You'll do. Will you help me in killing?"

"But I can't pilot." The quintessential problem came out before he was even aware of it.

The smirk grew a fraction bigger. "I can change that."

Hiro turned down to look at the broken boy in front of his feet, who remained unmoving. He'd been ejected out of Strelitzia without even a second thought, like a spent casing after a bullet had been fired. And there was no secret to who the stranger with the horns was. Infamous across all the plantations, she was the fabled demon who piloted the similarly legendary Strelitzia and used up stamen like no other. Anyone who dared to pilot with her faced certain death. But she offered her a way to pilot. He would be able to be of use to all the adults. Not wasted potential anymore. And his life was a cheap price to pay.

Hiro took her outstretched hand, into the darkness of the piloting chamber, where his vision slowly faded to white.

He heard the trailing whisper, "Let's go, darling."

— — —

In an airship, approaching Plantation 13 was another stamen and pistil pair that was meant to replace the failed pair. Other than the constant hum of the engine, the only sounds being made was the slight sound of pencil on paper, and the not-so-quiet sound of someone essentially making a one-sided conversation.

Code 074, in all respects of the word, was being an absolute pain in the ass to Code 962, who was clearly busy writing something down, but either Code 074 didn't have the social skills to notice or didn't care. Code 962 didn't respond to any of the questions 074 posed, which worked just as well, because 074 probably wouldn't have listened anyway.

While 074 went waxing on and on about some philosophical discussion on the multiple transgressions that some nobody or other had made against him, and the unfairness of such treatment, 962 was quietly penciling in her own silent thoughts.

All the other personnel on the aircraft left the two parasites alone to do their thing. Their job was not to interact with them save for a few necessary procedures. Parasites were meant to pilot. Adults handled everything else.

If there was a Nana on board, perhaps she might have broken the two apart or lightly scolded 074 for bothering 962 while she was trying to concentrate on something else. But she was dead. Only 074, 962, and a handful of adults had survived the destruction of Plantation 31.

Thankfully, Plantation 13 had a free slot open since the pistil there was found to be incapable of piloting. The logical thing to do was to transfer the survivors over, and reintegrate them into society. The adults were the easy part. Give them some magma, and they feel just as fine as the day before 31 was a ruin. The parasites were the worrying part. The introduction of new members this late might ruin the delicate balance of the miniature hierarchy the parasites might have formed in their protective little bubble. Of course, Papa didn't give any shits about factors like "balance" and "delicacy." All he knew was that Plantation 13 was down a FranXX, and here was an extra. Move that extra, and boom. Case closed. No excess paperwork, no hassle.

That was all there was to it. Who cared about Dr. Franxx's opinion, anyways?

— — —

A/N: Since I am an egomaniac with zero creativity and an itch to live in worlds that aren't like this one, that only leaves one option: reading/watching other people's imagination. Unfortunately, all of them are imperfect in some form or another. And being the egomaniac I am, I just _have_ to write some shitty fanfiction about it, or so help me.

So yeah. Plenty of strikes in this first chapter. Firstly, new OC characters. Crunch. Ouch. That's not a good start. Also, little derivation from the source material. Double ouch. Finally, angsty Hiro. Strike three. Get out of the game!

I wish just as much as you, reader, that I'll get better.

But hey, practice is practice!

While the chances are extremely high that this lil thing is going to die in infinite hiatus, I think a half-assed attempt is better than none. Besides, I feel better already sending this thing off into the void.

So review if you like what you see, and flame me if you don't. I'll take all your advisements under consideration.

Thanks for reading.


End file.
